Thursday, December 14, 2006

Thursday 12/14 A.M. Quickie:Welcome, Matsuzaka; R.I.P. Lamar Hunt

Matsuzaka signs for $52 mil: So which is it? Is Matsuzaka a rare $100 million pitcher (which is what it will cost the Red Sox, between posting fee and salary)? Or is he an $8.5 million a year pitcher (without the posting fee), which makes him one of the best bargains in baseball?

It's probably a little of both. But as the posting fee is a one-time hit on the Red Sox ledger (and the money so quickly leaving the U.S. fans' minds), it seems to me that all we'll be left with is that Matsuzaka makes less than Ted Lilly.

Matsuzaka remains my pick to win the 2007 AL Cy Young Award.

Legendary football owner Lamar Hunt dead at 74: He founded the AFL. He created the modern NFL by leading the AFL merger. He coined the phrase "Super Bowl." Based on those three things alone, it's very possible that Hunt was the most influential and important owner in sports history.

Wow: I knew Vernon Wells was one of the best players in baseball – and certainly among the Top 3 most under-the-radar talents (probably because he's over-the-border), but I didn't know he'd be worth $120 million. Continued kudos to the Jays for doing what it takes (read: spending) to keep up in the AL East. They deserve the playoffs.

No, there's apparently no truth to the wild rumor that the Dolphins players bought bootleg audio tapes of Tom Brady's signal calls, which is why they were able to own his ass last Sunday. They simply owned his ass based on available game tape.

T.O. is griping about the leaks on the Cowboys that reveals his lunacy to the world. Maybe he should start by not being such a lunatic.

I predict Bill Cowher will step away from the Steelers after this disappointing post-title season, make some coin and raise his profile by doing TV work, then break the bank for the 2008 season.

The Sixers REALLY need to find a trade partner for AI. Even 10 cents on the dollar would help this team right now. Hmm...

The Lakers REALLY need to figure out a way to survive the next 4 weeks without injured Lamar Odom (knee). His first game out, they lost to the Mavs. (Does AI look any more attractive? No? OK.)

The Suns REALLY need to find a way to translate their regular season success, which includes a 12th straight win last night, over the defending champ Heat, into the postseason.

(Speaking of the Heat, apparently Pat Riley couldn't resist the attention/frenzy that comes with displaying even the most remote interest in trading for Iverson. Wade and AI in the same lineup strikes me as "Frankenbackcourt.")

The NBA REALLY needs even more up-and-down games like last night's Wiz win over the Nuggets. (Defense? Who needs defense?)

Will Leitch vs. John Rocker: This was from yesterday, but I insist: MUST READ. It's one of the more frank interviews with an athlete you'll read. And the fact that it's from Will at Deadspin makes it better.

NFL Tonight: Seahawks over 49ers, but I'll say it again: If I had to buy stock in the 5-year future of either team, I'd put my money on the Niners.

85 comments:

ESPN Classic had their countdown of the top college football teams of all-time. After all the hoopla about last year's USC team being the greatest of all time it feels great that the fans know who the greatest team of all time is.

I was a freshman at Nebraska in 1995 and just watching them you knew that this team was a team of the ages. I know that they had a group of players who's rap sheets would make the Bengals blush but they were an extraordinary team to watch every Saturday that year.

Lamar Hunt didn't just create the modern NFL...he's also a pioneer behind getting the MLS to survive and (that's right!) even thrive in the U.S. For you philistines, the MLS is Major League Soccer. Hunt owned 2 teams.

On John Rocker: Those "Speak English" idiots do realize that half of this country spoke Spanish since before this country existed right? The U.S. doesn't have an official language for a reason. It'd be far more useful to have a campaign for Speak English and Spanish (and in this day and age, even Arabic). Only Americans never know what others are saying. We always know what you're saying. Who's fault is that? /end rant

Sixers can say screw it for now. They F'd up their media play, saying they wanted to trade him quickly, and didn't have any leverage to creat a competing market for his services. Let him linger; the sixers ain't going anywhere this year. They have a couple of months; teams that have high expectations that continue to underacheive (Clippers? Heat?), or teams that suffer the inevitable injury bug (Nets? Nuggets?), will eventually get desperate. The local media will start clamoring for him in some cases (Like Simmons is already doing for the Celts and Clips (which I still feel is the best situation for Iversen, new team, and assets for sixers in return)), and the sixers can get more for him. I agree, right this sec, it seems like the sixers, at best, get ten cents on the dollar for him. (Be smart, King, wait for it. The best thing you can do is wait, go for Oden. No matter what happens with the trade, your fans are going to be disinterested in the team this year. Build for the future. If you get Oden and anything reasonable for Iversen, in five years, if you last that long, peoplem may actually start thinking you are a smart GM.)

John Rocker... wow. Impressive that Will got the interview, and handled it well.

@ cmfost:

I agree completely on Andruw Jones. He is going to get P-A-I-D. Too bad the Yankees & Mets already have centerfielders entrenched in their lineups. Though with Abreu coming off the books, they could theoretically move Damon to right.

Otherwise, it's a bidding war between Boston and the Chicago teams. And maybe Atlanta.

I bet he won't sign and find himself $200 mil richer in the offseason playing with Texas or the Angels.

And being a homer and all - Il Mago had a solid game for the Raptors last night (sans Bosh). Here's to believing that he'll start contributing more minutes and developing into an impact palyer for Toronto this season....and winning Rookie of the year!

I'd rather pay Wells the money than Andruw, but they're both going to get paid. Tough call for Wells though. Stay in Toronto for the big bucks and be a local hero or wait for free agency to probably make more and be hated for a year....or at least until you get traded. Aren't the taxes in Canada pretty crazy? His best bet to cash in is to go home to Texas.

Not a chance for Crosby to break Gretzky's records. His record are way out of reach. No one is going to score 150 points or more in a season anymore. 100-120 is the most you will see and at that pace I think Crosby would have to play 20+ seasons.

As an exiled Pittsburgher, it was great to have picked up the Penguin's radio broadcast over the Internet and listen to Hall of Fame announcer Mike Lange call the second period of the Pens/Flyers game. The Pens scored three times in 3:35. Wow, the Flyers suck this year. Sid the Kid had a great game. Hopefully the Pens can keep it up against better teams.

I liked that so much I'm going to type it again:Wow, the Flyers SUCK this year! ;-)

I went to the Celtic/Sixer game last night, all 15 of the die hard sixer fans are in a funk. The only bonus is everyone who goes to a sixer game this year has a 1 in 5 chance of getting a t-shirt from Hip Hop the mascot.

P.S. Webber is even worse to watch in person, I thought he was shot watching on television, go see him live, talk about done.

And you two met when she was interviewing you? Because I want to make it clear that I'm not hitting on either one of you.

Yeah, all of her questions were, "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Would you like my number?" I just looked down her shirt, saw what I needed to see and moved on. (Laughs.) I took a leap of faith, because she had a long coat on, and she could have had big birthin' hips or something.

I don't think Cowher's the type to jump to Cleveland. Remember how the Rooneys showed loyalty to him, keeping him around, not scrapping him with the first bad season. If he leaves and takes a year off, he's not going to go to a rival like that. Maybe Carolina, if John Fox loses the Panthers at the end of this year and next.

I'd rather have Wells over Jones, too. If Canada's taxes are higher, can a player have his contract written that he gets paid MORE for the road games, and pennies for the HOME games? Therefore, his income is based in the US.

There would be reasons for Cowher to come to the Browns. He's unhappy that the Rooneys didn't extend his contract and there's no better way to get back at them than to coach their rivals. Plus he played for the Browns and started his coaching career there (he even interviewed for their coaching job when Belichick got it). Randy Lerner certainly has the money to throw at Bill, so I think it's a legit possibility.

I'm giving Romeo one more year, but judging by the lack of progress (and even regression this year) I don't think he's head coach material. There's probably a reason he was almost 60 before he got a head coaching job (reminding me of another failed Browns coach, Bud Carson). He isn't able to get his team to play hard in important games (only 1 win in the division in 2 years) and is very slow to make changes (getting rid of Mo Carthon as O-coordinator). There's no way he's getting another head coaching job if he's canned by the Browns. I'm guessing another 10+ loss season in '07 will be his demise.

Regardless of whether you think the Lakers are in trouble with Odom out, it's absurd to say that they're "REALLY" in trouble just because they lost to the Mavs! It was a road game at one of the hottest teams in the league --> the Lakers were supposed to lose!

"T.O. is griping about the leaks on the Cowboys that reveals his lunacy to the world. Maybe he should start by not being such a lunatic."

Well TO is right that what happens in the locker room should stay out of the public light. Falling asleep at a meeting has probably happened 100 times in NFL meetings this year. What he doesn't understand is that he is the one who broke the rules first. Bad mouthing your own teammates is something that begets - well - your own teammates bad mouthing you.

Cowher isn't upset about not getting his contract extended. He's the one that doesn't want to negotiate an extension at this time. I think he'll retire for 3-4 years and end up back with the Steelers or in college.

I heard Tim Kurkjan this morning on ESPn Radio and he said that he still thinks with the changes the Red Sox have made so far that the YANKEES are still clearly the favorite to win the AL EAST. Personally I don't see how they could be a clear favorite, maybe a slight favorite. If Matsuzaka is a good as he is said to be the Red Sox Clearly have a better starting rotation, the yankees have a better bullpen(it may be closer depending on who the red sox close with) and the line ups are about even. And that does not even include the fact that the Blue Jays have also improved. Personally I think the AL East will be a 3 way dog fight until the end of the season.

Didnt you guys see all the middle relievers the O's signed? The other teams in the AL East may all have studly lineups and owners with at least half a clue, but the O's can throw Walker, Williamson, Bradford and Baez at you in the 6-7th innings! We own the middle innings!

I'm willing to give Crennel another year. Unless Fisher is available, I don't see how replacing the head coach can possibly help the Browns at this point. They've sucked since they came back into the league, which can be traced to these 4 things:

The mobbed up crook Policy pushes the Browns into the league too early, and ends up picking names out of a hat to fill executive roles, which led to...

Dwight Clark being in charge of personnel, when he has no eye for talent, which led to...

Butch Davis being hired, overpayed, and handed the keys to the organiztation, even though he was a college coach, which led to...

Davis trumping everyone and picking Gerrard Warren over LaDanian Tomlinson in the draft.

Cleveland has been set so far back due to those choices, no coach would have succeeded the past two years. Bring Crennel back for another.

"A scenario of using Michael Vick at running back and Matt Schaub at quarterback was discussed Wednesday in case injured Falcons tailbacks Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood are not healthy enough to play Saturday night against Dallas."

the O's make me sad as well. Great that they sured up their middle relief, but starting pitching is still an issue, and there's a larger problem that no fan or O's personnel can tackle - Peter Angelos.

Rocker is the man. Back when he had his two week stint with the devil rays I skipped out of work for three days to see if he would pitch at home. We sat int he bullpen cafe and were cracking jokes with him. I have always liked him but then again he was a brave and a d ray so he gets a pass on any gauche behavior.

What really sucks about being a d ray fan is Boston and NY being in the same division. Even if the rays lineup puts it all together this season offensively that pitching will doom them. If we could get another pitcher on par with kazmir and a real closer we could win the east. We have so much power on our team but they are all young and haven't been able to put it all together at the same time. I like this team a lot more than when we had the shit show in town.

Vick as a rb makes so much sense that there is no way mora does this. Most of my friends in the ATL have been clamoring for Vick to be made a rb ever since Schaub showed he could run that offense a while back. Was it last yr or the yr before I can't remember.

It sucks that the bucs are playing for brady quinn as I don't think I can hold out til january 8th to watch a game that means something to me.

Where did you find the Internet feed for Mike Lange? It's a real shame Fox Sports Pittsburgh let him go, and his replacement Steigerwald aint cuttin it.

On a hockey note:The mainstream media is ignoring the sport right now (with good reason because the games are not televised to a large enough audience). But when Crosby, Malkin and Co. make their first Cup final (which I predict will happen within three years), that is when hockey will be back. Sadly, that will be the first chance for many people to watch these talents. But the Penguins have something special going. Lets just pray that they stay in Pittsburgh...

The second half of 06 for the yankees was good but what happened in the playoffs. They really did not improve there pitching. yes, pettite is a decent pitcher but he not that young and the yankees are going in too the season with 3 older pitchers(Mussina, Johnson and Pettite) who in recent years have been having injury problems. If anything the Yankees have fallen back to the rest of the pack and may have been passed by the Sox and the Jays

Will hockey be "back" when Malkin, Crosby, and Staal are winning the Cup in Hamilton Ontario?

The NHL should have just let ESPN show games. The size of the contact shouldn't have mattered -- isn't that the deal with NBC? Like, they don't actually pay rights fees? The idea would be to just have games on when you're flipping past the channel. Now it just oversaturates us with college basketball....which I like, but a little variety would be nice.

Barry Melrose must be bored out of his mind over there.

It was last year that Schaub played, as he did okay against the Pats in the dome last year.

I also think that the perks Dice got (the flights, massage therapist) probably mean more than an extra million or two, anyways. It's like us ham-and-eggers (Wasn't that a Bobby the Brain Heenan description?) who'll trade a couple grand in salary to have a really good dental plan.

One last thought on the browns and them sucking. Do you really think the owners care if the teams does well? As long as the stadiums full and merchandise is sold? The Browns have some of the most Die Hard fans around; I would compare them to RSN, but then I don't know who I am insulting more. Anyway, just a thought that owners only want to make money on the team instead of winning every year.

1) The american league is WIDE OPEN and its going to be great!Yanks, Sox, Jays, W-Sox, Tigers, Twins, Indians, Angels, Rangers??, all have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs and do something. All teams have weaknesses to which makes it hard to predict2) AI for Maggette and Livingston sounds like a lot for a guy you know they HAVE to trade. Maybe for just Maggette and a 1st round pick but then the 76ers are getting screwedAI, Cassell, Brand, Kaman, and some other guy then Mobley and Livinston off the bench. WOW

AL east talk gets boring for a lot of us in those cities. At least us that pay more attention to the Mets. Damn media forcefeeding us hotstove reports about pettite and that japanese guy... It's football and basketball season. And the ice hockey, supposedly.

What the hell? Wells at $120 mill would be a bargain. Soriano got $126 million and eight years, and Wells is better offensively, much better defensively, and five years younger. He's getting $150+ next year if he doesn't get hurt.

@adam has Merril Hoge made more dumb remarks? I do not think that I or any other Titans/VY fan have to worry because VY gets better and better each week and Hoge and Charlie Casserly continue to look dumber and dumber.

They released the current all-star voting numbers in the NBA. It should be noted that Allen Iverson leads all EASTERN CONFERENCE guards in votes, but would be third in the WESTERN CONFERENCE behind Kobe and T-MAC. Esspecially with T-MAC's back spasms, the question should arrise....

Does AI keep his votes from the east voting if he's traded to the west?

Right now, due to T-Mac's injury, Iverson would start for the West due to his number. But would they say that it doesn't count because those votes were accumulated against a different set of guys?

The ESPN article points out..."Since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, only one player -- Carter, in 2005 -- was traded before the All-Star Game and still was voted as a starter."

That trade was from Toronto to New Jersey though. He didn't switch conferences.

Feel free to post your opinions, (hopefully) answers, and (even more hopefully) a source with the rule.

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.